Victoria Taylor fired; AMAgeddon blackout; Pao resigns

In early July 2015, Reddit abruptly dismissed Victoria Taylor, the popular director of talent who coordinated the site's celebrity AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions and served as a key liaison between volunteer moderators and the company. Because moderators relied on Taylor to run high-profile AMAs, her unexplained firing on July 2 sparked an immediate revolt. Moderators of r/IAmA and dozens of other major communities set their subreddits to private in protest of poor communication and inadequate support from administrators.

The protest, dubbed "AMAgeddon," cascaded as more than 1,400 subreddits—including giants like r/AskReddit, r/funny, and r/pics—went dark within a day, effectively crippling much of the site and drawing international press coverage. The unrest converged with long-simmering anger over recent subreddit bans and intense personal attacks on interim CEO Ellen Pao, and a change.org petition demanding her removal gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures. On July 10, 2015, Pao resigned, and co-founder Steve Huffman returned to lead the company as CEO.